Some people just want to know the basics, so here they are:
Name (English)
Rachel Kronick
Name (Chinese)
What does your Chinese name mean?
Not much, really. My personal name translates to "Beautiful cloud color" or something like that; my surname is based on my English surname.
Place of birth
Ethnicity
Lithuanian, Swedish, German, Czech, Slovak (Note: Not Taiwanese! I lived in Taiwan, but I'm a white person. Honky. Pasty-skinned big-nose a-do-ga.)
Current living place
Minneapolis
Previous living place
Taibei, Taiwan
Why does your website make it sound like you're still living in Taiwan?
Do you have any idea how long it would take to update every mention of Taiwan?
Other places you've lived
Iowa City, Springfield OH and Menominee
Height
Not enough
Weight
Too much
Age
Constantly
Eyes
Two
Hair
Gnarled
General Appearance
If the above hasn't already given you enough information about my looks, write to me and I might send you a photo or two.
Occupation
EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher Currently looking for work Mandarin Chinese interpreting and teaching
Opinion of Taiwan
Life in Taiwan is... life. Some good, some bad. Hard to compare.
Reason for having been in Taiwan
Little other means to make money
Real reason for being there
Sorry, if I told you, I'd have to kill you
Friends
Not enough
Languages
Mandarin Chinese, English, a little Japanese, incredibly small amounts of Russian and Arabic, plus as much French, Latin, Spanish, etc. as any attentive English native speaker knows
Countries you've been to
US, Canada, Japan (for three days), South Korea (for 24 hours), China, Hong Kong (or would that be the UK?), Taiwan, Thailand
Education
Fairly useless (BA, MA, both in rather useless fields)
Marketable Skills
Language teaching, Mandarin/English translation & interpreting, writing (primarily SF RPG materials, but including proposals, etc.), some experience with 3D graphics, okay web design/DTP skills
Main Interests
Science fiction, Gender studies, Mandarin, 3D art, astronomy, philosophical issues, alternative music, morality, RPG's, trying to be a good person
Other interests
Linguistics, physics, spicy food, chocolate, politics, griping, shopping, makeup, many other things
I'm too lazy to sort through your whole site to find the highlights. What are they?
Hmm... I'll have to think about that...
Why is your site called "jiawen.net"?
Didn't you notice my Chinese name?
Number of pairs of shoes
About 15, none of which I look good in
Favorite clothes
Qipaos, short black classy formal dresses with elbow-length sleeves, slimline pants, sarongs, plain but elegant shirts, anything elegant in solid colors, almost anything that matches the color scheme of this site
Ideal romantic companion
Most of all, someone respectful. Hopefully also intelligent, kind and good. Similar interests wouldn't hurt, either.
Favorite color
I hope it's obvious from the design of this site, but if not... well, it's somewhere between indigo and violet. Actually, I think my favorite color is not so much a color as a process -- the change from blue to indigo to violet.
Favorite car
Come on, be serious
Okay, the Renault Twingo.
Favorite ice cream
Haagen Dazs Coffee, maybe peppermint bon-bon too
Favorite Chinese (Hunan) food
Favorite Western food
Hard to say -- probably Zantigo's Taco Burritos
Brushes with fame
First word
"Owl".
Vices
I don't smoke, and I only drink very occasionally. (Bailey's on ice, or strawberry margaritas, please.) So, I don't really have many. Probably chocolate, excessive computer use, or Pace Picante Sauce. Or Taco Bell?
Your website is really useful, and I'd like to do sometime in return. What should I do?
You could always give me something:
Political stance
Principled progressive or something like that -- come on, you can't really sum that kind of thing up briefly, can you?
Jeez but you're self-deprecating! What's the deal?
Well, to be honest, I have a pretty huge ego. I haven't found a better way of counter-acting that than to make up for it in other ways. Plus, in many ways, I think I really am not as good as people have said I am.
Are you just one of those weirdoes who spends all your time updating your website with quadrillions of links but has no real life to speak of?
The jury's still out on that one.
Dammit, why do you use table-based layout?
I really am trying to get rid of all the tables on this site in favor of CSS, but it'll take a while to get everything sorted out. Please bear with me.
Web-mail address
Real e-mail address
Sorry, can't put it here for fear of spam -- but write and I'll write back
